


The Gift of Your Existence

by Avaetin



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: 1st Prompt: Birthday, Birthdays and Birthday Cake, Day 1: Percico Positivity Project Event, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-18
Updated: 2016-08-18
Packaged: 2018-08-09 12:45:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7802398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avaetin/pseuds/Avaetin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The memories Percy had of his birthdays were oddly a perfect balance of a bittersweet mixture. That is to say, he was equally fond of those memories despite the certain animosity he harbored for each. Happiness and sadness come hand-in-hand on most events of his life, and he could easily justify each with the crazy life the other half of his parentage had brought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Gift of Your Existence

**_The greatest gifts you have given me are your existence and your unconditional love that was never severed by the trials of time._ **

 

* * *

The memories Percy had of his birthdays were oddly a perfect balance of a bittersweet mixture. That is to say, he was equally fond of those memories despite the certain animosity he harbored for each. Happiness and sadness come hand-in-hand on most events of his life, and he could easily justify each with the crazy life the other half of his parentage had brought.

 

Percy could never recall a proper birthday celebration, as far as he was concerned. Majority of his childhood was solely spent on trying to make ends meet whilst enduring the presence of Smelly Gabe in their household. Birthday cakes were replaced with cheap and quaint muffins instead, topped with blue frosted icing and a single candle that was far too big to be intended for a cake. Not that it was worth celebrating though. Lively parties in the presence of his closest friends were replaced to peaceful trips to a beach in Montauk with his mother. Not that he had any friends to begin with; deemed an outcast by his schoolmates due to his supposed cases of dyslexia and ADHD.

 

One said trip to Montauk was followed by his discovery that he was a demigod – a son of Poseidon, lord of the seas and what-not, at that. At a young age, it was foretold that he was potentially a child of a great prophecy, destined to either save the world or wreak havoc upon it given the choices he was to make. At a young age, he had claimed that prophecy as his own, and spent the following birthdays he had – before reaching the age of sixteen – in dread.

 

He survived his sixteenth, but his seventeenth year was well-spent in preparation of another war. He lived through to his eighteenth, but he supposed misfortunes and sadness did not necessarily have to come in the form of prophecies or revelations of impending war, as he and his believed “one true love” had to part on mutual terms. Tartarus had dealt its damage, and with their conflicting interests and believed responsibilities, there was absolutely no compromise that could fix the situation. In summary, there was only the option to let go.

 

The following three years had been mundane, and he had to admit that he had forgotten his birthday two upon those three birthdays, or simply did not bother to care upon stepping through the threshold of the age of adulthood.

 

Least to say, a twenty-one year streak of a bad birthday record certainly did not have him anticipating for any celebration on the said day.

 

“Come on, Percy. I need your help on buying a Christmas gift for Leo. He’s next on my list, and I really can’t think of anything to give to him.”

 

Jason’s pathetic excuse of getting him out of his mother’s apartment did not make him anticipate what his friends had in mind as well. The fact that he allowed the son of Jupiter to drag him around New York City with such a pathetic excuse in mind was only to humor the persistent demigod, and due to the tantalizing promise of a long spar. Needless to say, that did not make Jason’s excuse – again – pathetic.

 

“You’re no actor, Grace, so you might as well drop it. Seriously, you suck at it,” Percy laughed out loud when the younger male stumbled from beside him upon being called out. “No one ever buys Christmas gifts as early as August. And hell, if you did have that kind of plan by any chance, you would have brought an actual list.”

 

Jason was quite meticulous like that.

 

“You know, you can just go along with it,” Jason sighed, running a hand through his hair and pushing stray locks back as he matched his pace with the son of Poseidon’s.

 

“I let you drag me out of my mom’s apartment, didn’t I?” Percy offered, amused. “You guys don’t have to try so hard. One way or another, whatever you plan will end up in a mess. My birthday streak has been bad for the past twenty-one years.”

 

“May I remind you that your boyfriend, Nico di Angelo, has all means to potentially castrate me or send my soul directly to the Fields of Punishment if I mess any of his plans for your birthday?” Jason stated, crossing his arms across his chest as they maneuvered through the growing crowd.

 

“Dully noted,” was the snorted response. A fond expression crossed those vibrant sea-green eyes at the aforementioned name.

 

Percy was never one to analyze his relationships; not that there was much to analyze, given he had only been with two people thus far. There was no need to analyze his relationship with the daughter of Athena, for all that transpired in their relationship was crystalline clear. It had started with budding affections, and what remained of what Tartarus did not kill, they subconsciously extinguished on their own. Needless to say, the lack of complications provided him no reason to analyze it for what it evidently was.

 

But with Nico di Angelo, it was a completely different case. It was a relationship that had countless complications as its foundation, and how they reached this point of their relationship had definitely been no walk in a park.

 

 _“Were you serious before?”_ Percy had questioned once, out of curiosity and for the sake of getting it out of his head. _“Was there ever a time that you like-like me?”_

 

 _“You sound like a teenager. And no, you’re definitely not one anymore, given your age,”_ Nico had interjected before Percy had the chance to claim that he was still a teen, if only by heart. _“But… yeah. Yeah, there was a time.”_

 

Percy never could comprehend how his actions could ever be considered _likeable_ at any certain point. For years, he believed – still does – that he was one of those people that had ruined the son of Hades’ life. It started with the death of Bianca di Angelo, and only worsened from there. He had made poor decisions, toyed and doubted the young man’s trust on several occasions. To be told that Nico held affections for him despite all that he had done, how could he believe it?

 

Imprinting, Annabeth suggested to him once. But that was not the case, was it? Imprinting was to the extent of trust, not love, and what Nico stated was the latter.

 

Three years was what well-spent, taking each day step-by-step. Rushing was no option, and there was a need to properly establish a closure to their pasts before they could build the friendship that once almost existed years ago. It was a slow and chaotic process – harsh and painful words had been exchanged – but looking back at it now, it was well-worth the barriers that it had broken down.

 

Getting the son of Hades to believe that he harbored feelings for him had been near impossible. It was a tedious process of pursuing and courting, and convincing that _no_ , Nico di Angelo was not a rebound. Percy had done so much stupid decisions in his life, and he was not about to add another to his list by seeking solace in the younger male by playing with his emotions. It was not as if he simply accepted it once he had come to realize he was developing feelings for the younger male. It was a tiring process between denial and acceptance, but in the end, he had to surrender to the fact, knowing that it was inevitable.

 

But pursuing a romantic interest had never been his best quality. Heck, the daughter of Athena had been the one who did most of the pursuit before they became an established couple. With Nico di Angelo, the pursuit was solely his to make.

 

Convincing Nico had taken months, and coaxing the son of Hades into intimate exchanges took far longer, but Percy had to admit that he would not have it any other way. The slow pace allowed for Nico to establish a much needed trust on him and vice versa, or else they would have been walking on egg shells all the time in their relationship. But that was not the case, no. It was evident in the fact that Nico freely confided in him, and he in the younger male, that proved just how far they had come from what they used to be so many years in the past.

 

“Since you’re off to your Nico-Wonderland, we might as well just get some coffee at the nearest diner. That good?” Jason asked, his tone teasing as he addressed the son of Poseidon’s far-off expression.

 

Not that Jason had any complaints. For the longest time, he had known of the complexity that was of Nico’s feelings for Percy. To actually see them become a couple, Jason solely wished that nothing would break their shared happiness. Percy had had enough; _Nico_ had had enough. It was time The Fates grant them the happiness they very well much deserve.

 

“Sure, if you’re paying,” Percy answered, plastering a smirk all across his features as he directed them to the nearest diner.

 

“Fine,” was the resigned response. “Remember this, Jackson. Once my birthday comes rolling in, one way or another, you will be buying me sets of brownies from New Rome,” Jason grunted, mockingly opening the door to the diner as Percy stepped inside, exaggerating his walk as if he were a king.

 

* * *

 

 

To have a family to come home to was the most pleasant feeling in the entire world. As the streamers and confetti rained down and littered across the entirety of their apartment’s living room, Percy could only think that nothing could compare close to the feeling of having a home to return to. The kaleidoscope of colors were blinding, and the cheers and off-tune singing of his friends were deafening, but they were all small details he had come to appreciate. When your life is all but filled with the uncertainty of living through another day, you have to take appreciation in the smallest of things in life.

 

“Took you guys long enough. Man, for a moment there, I thought you two bailed on us and held your own private party elsewhere!” Leo complained, chucking the confetti popper at Jason who swatted it away before it could possibly hit him.

 

“And risk Nico’s wrath? I’d drag Percy back if I had to,” Jason stated with a laugh, pushing Percy forward just as said son of Hades stepped out from the kitchen, carrying a large blue cake in his hands.

 

Nico’s hair was dishevelled, and there were stains in his clothing that indicated that he spent an eventful day at the mercy of the kitchen and Sally Jackson. He was fatigued – that was the only description Percy could come up with – but there was an indescribable pride in his eyes as he held Percy’s birthday cake in his hands.

 

It was clearly just a trick of the eyes but for a second, Percy swore that he had seen Nico’s ten-year old self, that Nico di Angelo that was once filled with innocence and life as he blabbered all day about Mythomagic to Percy. Percy honestly missed that child, not that he would verbally admit it. The Nico di Angelo before him now was perfect as he is.

 

“You know, you didn’t have to set up all this just for me,” Percy stated, ignoring the others as he approached the son of Hades, lowering his head to place a gentle kiss upon those cold lips.

 

Nico’s lips were, peculiarly, always cold. But against Percy’s warm ones, it was the perfect contrast.

 

“Am I hearing complaints, Jackson?” Nico asked, breathing the words out against his lips with a hint of amusement in his tone.

 

“None at all,” Percy answered with a grin, pecking those lips once more before pressing a gentle kiss to the younger male’s forehead. “Thank you for all of this.”

 

“We get it, Aquaman. You want your privacy with your boyfriend, but come on! Uncle Leo here is about to raise the roof!” Leo declared, holding a bottle of champagne out with one of his hands; the other one resting on his hips.

 

“Should we have moved this outside then?” Frank asked, his eyebrows knitting in concern.

 

“Of the party, not the apartment!” Leo spluttered when Sally Jackson – _Blofis_ now – fixed a chastising expression on her features at what Frank implied that the son of Hephaestus might do. “I’ll behave, Mrs. Blofis.”

 

Percy rolled his eyes at that as the others laughed, all mutually not believing the demigod’s words even for a second. In that moment of blissful happiness, of the sight of his friends and family’s carefree smiles and the melodious sound of their laughter, Percy could only glance away. Was he not supposed to grasp this happiness? Yet, the fear of having it taken away from him at the second he would do so outweighed his desire.

 

“It’s ironic. I’m usually the one who falls first to negative thoughts,” Nico murmured from beside him as the son of Hades observed his partner’s paling features. “Drop your worries for tonight, Percy. I promise nothing will go wrong tonight.”

 

Who was Percy to doubt that? Who was Percy to doubt the sole person that never failed to keep his promise to him?

 

“I trust you, Nico.”

 

And Percy did, he truly did. But if either of them had to be honest, that was much true now than it had been years ago. Percy trusted Nico now – more than he ever did in the past. If Nico said that nothing would go wrong that night, then the son of Hades must mean it truly well.

 

“I know,” Nico murmured, a ghost of a smile on his lips as he cocked his head towards the dining area, ignoring the rest of their preoccupied friends as he gestured for the son of Poseidon to follow. “Now come. Blow your cake so we can all start eating before Leo actually blows up anything in your apartment.”

 

* * *

 

 

If anyone were to tell Percy at the age of thirteen that Nico di Angelo would eventually become one of the most important people in his life, he would have immediately called it out as a joke because – _hello?_ – they spent little time with each other before Nico took the express trip to gods-know-where upon receiving the bad news that his older sister had died. Nico was adamant on hating him back then as well, if his repetitive proclamations of _“I hate you!”_ were not obvious enough.

 

There was no basis for Nico to love him and vice versa, and their relationship back then was far too severely strained to be salvaged without risking of completely destroying it.

 

Looking back at it now, it had taken a long and difficult road to get them to where they were at the moment. A road of tears and anger; a road filled with the disillusionment of betrayal and vengeance. A road of comfort and solace; a road where the littlest instances of happiness was far beyond precious than any achievements either of them had accomplished. It was a long and difficult road, and Percy could say the same for the journey.

 

Twenty-two years. Percy had lived for twenty-two years, and he could say that it was well-worth the struggles, pain and anguish that he had to endure just to reach the present. In the presence of his friends and family, some in varying states of drunken glee or plainly drunkenness, Percy found that it was easy to let go of the past years of lonesome birthdays. In the presence of his friends and family, it was easy to move on.

 

“You’ve been quiet,” Nico noted from beside him on the couch as they observed their friends with amusement.

 

“You want me drunk and all hyped up? Because I can if you want me to,” Percy teased as he pulled his boyfriend closer, nuzzling his unruly locks.

 

“No. You and Leo drunk are a force to reckon with,” Nico chuckled, leaning to the embrace whilst shaking his head at the sound of the son of Hephaestus’ off-tune singing.

 

The son of Hephaestus managed to down half a bottle of one of the champagnes, and was currently using a hotdog as a microphone as he sang, along with an equally drunk daughter of Aphrodite, _“Stronger”_ by Kelly Clarkson to the perfectly aligned stuffed toys of Percy’s younger sister which were on the couch. Jason was, least to say, having the time of his life, preventing both adults from standing atop the coffee table, much to the amusement of the rest of their friends.

 

“I’m enjoying myself just by being here,” Percy murmured against his hair, closing his eyes as he breathed in the younger male’s scent. “Thank you for this awesome party.”

 

“You’re welcome. It’s the least I could do, since you were so persistent on me not getting you a gift,” Nico said, rolling his eyes as he remembered of the older male’s persistent request.

 

“You being here is already the best gift I could have for my birthday,” Percy huffed before tilting the younger male’s head back and placing a lingering kiss on his lips.

 

And Nico would never understand what he meant. To the son of Hades, they would simply be just sweet words that were meant to flatter and nothing more. But Percy meant more; so _much_ more. His twenty-second birthday would mark the first birthday he had as a couple with Nico di Angelo; a birthday he hoped would be followed by more.

 

Truth be told, the best gift Percy had received – and he hoped he would continue to receive for his future birthdays – is the existence of Nico di Angelo, and the unconditional love that he still offered after so many years of once having it dulled to almost nothing. If that was not devotion, Percy did not know what it could possibly be.

 

“Sap. You should save that for bed,” the son of Hades chuckled, pecking the older male’s lips and pulling back before the kiss could deepen. “Happy Birthday, Percy. I hope we can spend more birthdays like this.”

 

And Percy believed that once – hopefully not just this once – perhaps Nico was right. As he watched the carefree smiles on his friends’ faces and basked in that homey feeling as he was surrounded by their presence, Percy allowed himself to be happy.

 

From across the room, his eyes directly met stormy gray eyes who were watching him attentively and with such a calculative expression. Fleeting thoughts such as _first love_ and _happily ever after_ still passed his mind at random times as he gazed at the woman’s familiar profile, but deep in his heart, Percy knew that they were just that – fleeting _thoughts_. It was difficult to look at her before; difficult to establish a platonic relationship with the memory of their intimate exchanges still lingering on his lips. But…

 

Percy glanced fondly at Nico – who was shaking his head out of amusement as he watched Leo yank down Jason’s pants as the shorter male drunkenly prevented himself from falling to the floor – before he redirected his attention to Annabeth.

 

And he smiled.

 

Percy had moved on, and he was certain that Annabeth did as well, if the smile that faintly creased her lips were anything to go by. Eventually, those memories would fade, and the familiarity of her lips would just be a distant memory, but they could rebuild something else in its place.

 

Nico fully has his heart, and Percy was not about to change that anytime soon.

 

“May we spend more of my birthdays like this,” Percy agreed as he wrapped his arms around his boyfriend, pulling him tight against his frame as he smiled blissfully against the crook of his neck.

 

* * *

 

 

_**End** _


End file.
